Editorial

“Those who have experienced The Great War are old” says Bediüzzaman Said Nursi. A century has passed since The First World War that aged not only people but nations and societies as well. Despite the fact that a century has passed, The Great War ( World War I / 1914-1918) – originated in Europe, moved to a global scale and along with The Ottoman Empire, divided and reshaped all of the Islamic World – is still being debated due to its social, political and economic effects.
First World War, due to the cruelty, oppression and limitless destruction involved, carried its sorrows over a century. First World War is not only responsible for the bloodiest and most oppressed pages in human history , but also makes a mark by accompanying social and moral corruption that threatens the future of humanity and different ideologies that put down roots to the whole world. On that sense, we must address this issue not only from the military, political and economic perspectives but also consider the cultural, religious and social impressions.
The Great War, implying a war that is globally destructive, harbours interwoven questions from different fields. Doomsayers of this war such as the industrial revolution and its consequences, the colonialism mentality that enslaves communities, ideologies that influenced the
Ottomans deeply should be discussed separately. However, destructive effects of nationalism, nation state mentality, existence of authoritative systems, the devastating results of human greed, extermination of basic rights and liberties, emergence of ideologies and moral degeneration that transform people, the rise of countless number of global problems and the theories regarding the future of humanity… All of these should be discussed and reinterpreted under the subject of “The Great War”.
The world, divided into Allied and Central powers, continued to spill out savagery for four years under the name of Great War and millions of people lost their lives. Empires have fallen, maps have changed and ineffaceable tragedies of humanity were experienced. The foundations of the civil wars in the Middle East were laid by this world war that changed the fate of the Islamic World and left a legacy of social, political and economic problems. The contentious Kurdish issue; the internationally discussed Armenian issue are subjects that need to be discussed in relation to this world war.
Based on these, we identified the subject of our 132nd publication as “The Great War”. We decided to study this subject in light of certain questions and as part of the concepts of “World War, Ottoman Empire, Enver Pasha, Committee of Union and Progress, German-Ottoman Alliance , The Special Organization , Allied Powers, Central Powers, war, industrial revolution, nationalism, colonialism, religion, Bolshevik revolution, socialism, ideologies, Islamic World, caliphate, jihad, Arab Revolt, Battle of Çanakkale, Medresetüzzehra, Isharat al-I’jaz, Kurdish issue, nation state , Armenian issue, deportation, Middle East, Islamic Unity, civilization”